As you look at this “exploded” view of the Bosch system, it is obvious
why there is a premium price for these units. Our experience with the
reliability is extremely good.

Yamaha is just one of the quality mid-drives that are
new in the North American market. The brand is well-established in Japan.

Cost: Mid-drives are more complex
to manufacture, so both the assist motor
and the specialized frame to hold it can
be added costs compared to a hub
motor bike.

Sound: Like the geared motor, mid-drives have a light mechanical sound.

RIDING EXPERIENCE

Mid-drives generally provide amore bicycle-like riding experience.

You will find that you use the assist-level adjustments fairly often, and youmust shift the gears to get the bestperformance. If you routinely haveclimbs right out of turns, or ones thatare steep and long, then a mid-drive isvery hard to beat. If you routinely travelsmooth, flat areas or have mild climbs,the difference will be less pronounced,and a good hub motor should be anadvantage in performance. We recentlytalked with a rider who uses a cargobike to carry his son up a steep hillfor over a mile to get to school. Withno motor he climbed the hill at 4 mph.

With a 350-watt hub motor he could do
7 mph, but the single climb used over
50 percent of the battery’s charge. He
swapped to a 350-watt mid-drive cargo
bike. He was able to make the climb at
9 mph, and it used only 10 percent of
the battery. His case is like the perfect